Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a photoelectric conversion element and a photoelectric conversion apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a distance detection sensor of a time-of-flight (TOF) type is known.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-303268 discloses an example of a distance detection sensor. In this example, as illustrated in FIGS. 9A to 9C of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-303268, the distance detection sensor includes a first photosensitive unit 11a, a second photosensitive unit 11b, a hole holding unit 13 configured to hold holes generated in the first photosensitive unit 11a, and an electron holding unit 14 configured to hold electrons generated in the second photosensitive unit 11b. When the holes generated in the first photosensitive unit 11a are transferred to the hole holding unit 13, a gate unit 38a is turned on and a gate unit 38b is turned off. On the other hand, when the electrons generated in the second photosensitive unit 11b are transferred to the electron holding unit 14, the gate unit 38b is turned on and the gate unit 38a is turned off. The electrons accumulated in the electron holding unit 14 and the holes accumulated in the hole holding unit 13 are recombined in a recombination unit 15. In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-303268, it described that it is not necessary to provide an ejection unit for ejecting electrons held in a light emission-off period.